Arrival tells a unique story about teaching and learning language while adapting to the culture of a complete foreign language. I instantly fell in love with this film when I saw it for the first time 7 years ago. I had been living in a foreign country for almost 5 years at that point teaching English, so I felt like it spoke to me directly.
Ever since I saw this film, I wanted to tell my students about it, and I had the chance the next week at my junior high school. Here's that post. Since starting high school, I wanted to use it again in a much larger capacity. And I finally accomplished that this year.
After watching the film, we discussed the overall story and ideas before focusing on the theory of "switching brains" when using different languages.
The film begins with Louise (played by Amy Adams) narrating life to her daughter. The joy of her birth to the pain of her unexpected premature death. A person's life is often defined by moments outside of their control.
As Louise arrives at her university to teach a class about language, life is interrupted by alien spacecraft appearing in 12 locations in different countries throughout the world. There is no announcement from the spaceships, but every 18 hours, a chamber is opened allowing people to enter and have contact with the aliens.
During the chaos, Louise is contacted by U.S. Army Colonel Weber (Forrest Whitaker) asking for her help to translate a message from the aliens. Impossible from just a recording, she, Weber, and Physicist Ian Donnely (Jeremy Renner) travel to Montana to the spaceship. They meet the aliens, but ultimately have no physical commonality to bridge communication. The aliens sound more like animals to us rather than sentient beings. (End of Part 1 in class)
Louise hits a breakthrough when she uses a whiteboard to write our language and show it to the aliens. Having a visual representation of our language allows the aliens to understand and reciprocate with their written language. This also allows Louise to have a tangible and concrete connection from their language to ours, given her a starting point to begin a rough method of translation and understanding.
Louise and Ian live at the army camp and spend every waking minute working on a method of translating the alien language. Every time the alien craft opens, Louse and Ian enter, and do their best to communicate with the aliens. From the written sentences, they build vocabulary and grammar, and they also build a device that can replicate the alien sentences and show them to the aliens.
Weeks have passed. They are finally near the point of being able to ask them, "What is the purpose of your visit?" They ask the question and get a response which translates to "Offer Weapon." This response creates conflict between Louise's team and the military execs who never fully trusted the aliens. (End of Part 2 in class)
Coming up with a 2-word response to such a large question is bound to have some errors, particularly in English. Looking through an English dictionary will give you plenty of words that roughly mean the same thing with small subtle differences. For anyone who has never thought about it before, these differences are often hard to identify, too. Like, what's the difference between talk and speak, or hear and listen? Any English speakers can tell you that these words have different meanings and uses, but can you clearly explain why they're different?
In addition, these subtle differences are being translated into another language and back. The words of a language carry more than just their meaning. The meanings are often derived from the lineage of the country's culture, and their usage is determined from the society that came from that culture. When the society and culture of two languages are completely separate with completely separate pasts and values, you lose a lot in translation and need more context.
This spoke to me directly being an American teaching English in Japan. English and Japanese are two of the most distant languages on Earth. At the base level, our writing, alphabet, grammar, and vocabulary are totally different. But, going up one level, our languages are also separated by different pasts and cultures which have created words used in completely different settings with different weights. To go from one language to the other requires more knowledge than just a dictionary.
Now, multiply this idea by another dimension to try and make contact with an alien species whose planet, biology, and even perception of reality are completely foreign to us.
Let's look at two specific sentences in Japanese and English.
I watch TV at home.
私は家でテレビを見ます。
The order of English grammar has the subject, verb, and predicate of the sentence in that order. The Japanese sentence starts with the subject, but it ends with the verb. All the further details of the sentence are given before closing with the action.
Overall, I think English is a very direct language. With any sentence, we immediately state the information of who does what. Any other information that builds context to that situation is given after. That information is of secondary importance. Most European languages follows this same pattern, too.
Throughout history, European nations have focused on outward expansion and conquering. Greeks and Romans, then English, Spanish, and Portuguese through the world, then Americans in North America. Through our history of conflict and war, we have more aggressive and direct personalities, which is reflected in our direct language.
The Japanese language is the near opposite. Grammatically, the action is stated last. Their sentences care more about the details of the situation before deciding on the action. Because of this, Japanese is often described as an indirect language.
This also comes from history. Japan is a small island, and it didn't take long for all available space to be taken. Villages and settlements of people had nowhere to expand. If someone was exiled from a village, they couldn't make their own village. They would have to be accepted by another village, but that village would be suspicious of why they were exiled in the first place.
People needed a way to work together and not cause conflict. Direct language is often harsh, so their communication became soft and less direct, creating a more gentle and nice society. The Japanese language we have today came from these early ideals.
In both cases, our histories and culture are reflected in the language we use today. This is also true with the alien's language in the film.
Louise is often able to read the alien sentences without using their translation device. Knowing about the small subtle differences in language, every small variation in the alien sentences brings up questions about why. Why is this different? What does this mean? How does this compare to a previous sentence with the same mark? Every day, she asks these questions to herself as she studies their language and refines their translations.
This immersion also brings about stress. She doesn't get a lot of sleep, so she often daydreams about her daughter. Ian notices this, and asks her about her dream. "When you dream, are you able to dream in their language?"
This overall immersion is the center of Arrival's story.
Ian mentions that when you immerse yourself in a foreign language, you're able to rewire your brain to think in that language. People usually refer to this as "switching brains." When someone truly learns a language, they live it. They think in that language and can respond naturally in that language without ever using or thinking about their native language.
In addition, as people think and speak that foreign language, their personality can change to fit the culture of that language. As an example, I tend to speak softer when using Japanese and louder when using English.
Throughout the film, as Louise uses the alien language, and thinks in the alien language, she has also slowly adapted to the culture of the aliens without realizing it.
An alien sentence has no beginning and end, and it's written all at once without any order. This is completely different than any language on Earth. All of our sentences have a specific order. The components of the sentences might have a different order, but there's always a beginning and end, and language is also spoken in that same order.
The alien language becomes a visual representation for their perception of reality because their perception of time also has no beginning or end. An alien views their entire life all at once. As they live in their present, they also live in their past and their future. They know all of the events that will happen in their life as they live them simultaneously.
As Louise studied the language, she slowly gained this perception through the daydreams of her daughter, who is not born yet. Her daughter is born in the future, after Louise and Ian marry following the events of the film, after the aliens leave.
Her immersion and adaptation of the alien language allowed her to think like the aliens, who have no concept of linear time.
My first attempt at using Arrival for my writing class focused on this Immersion only. Students wrote an essay answering the question: Is immersion necessary to completely understand a subject? Through Louise immersing herself in the alien language, she could completely understand it and adapt to their way of thinking. In general, was this really necessary?
It was fine, but the result of that immersion is more important. I think it's a more interesting question to ask whether it is possible to "switch brains."
In more definitive terms, The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis explains the idea of "switching brains." As a foundation, the hypothesis states that every language has a culture behind it, and this language and culture creates a thought process and view of the world for the people of that language.
This idea is split into two opposing theories: Linguistic Relativity and Linguistic Determinism. Usually when people mention the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, there are referring to Linguistic Relativity. This is what Ian Donnelly does in the film.
Linguistic Relativity means that when you learn and immerse yourself in a new language, you can also learn and change to the thought process of that language. When people "switch brains" to use a foreign language, they're also thinking like the people from that country and can view the world and situations in the same way. A person's thinking can change relative to the situation.
Linguistic Determinism is the opposite. A person's thought process and view of the world is determined by their native language, or primary language. They can still learn new languages, but their thoughts and actions will always be influenced by their native language and culture.
Japanese students spend a long time learning English in school. Their first classes are in elementary school, and become more numerous through junior high and senior high school. Even so, there's still a gap between our languages that prevents general students from becoming totally fluent. Many of the students still stick to the fundamentals of Japanese culture. As such, students don't have a clear linguistic foundation to truly answer whether Linguistic Relativity or Linguistic Determinism is more correct because they've never been able to immerse themselves in a different language or culture.
But, school is an overwhelming part of their lives, especially at my school. Students who take my writing course have classes for 12 hours each weekday, and another 6 or 8 hours on Saturdays. All of their time is spent studying and doing work for school. So, instead of language, what about different school subjects? Students who are often good at math are often not good at humanities, such as English or Japanese. The reverse is true, too. So, students answer the following question for the current essay:
Now, the Hypothesis states that different school subjects have different ways of thinking. For example, in math class, questions only have one answer and have a logically way of finding that answer. A student learns about formulas and methods of deriving that answer. For language class, the method of thinking is totally different. Language requires thinking that is far more fluid. There isn't a single way of answering a question, and answers can sometimes be long or short depending on the person.
So for Cognitive Relativity, when students focus and immerse themselves in various subjects, they are able to change their thinking to match the thought process of subject. And for Cognitive Determinism, students have a best subject or a favorite subject, and because they feel most confident in that subject, it ultimately determines how they think. When studying their weak subjects, they want to use the thought process of their strong subjects.
So, is it possibly for people to "switch their brains" when studying?
The essay follows the 4-paragraph structure of having an Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. The Introduction introduces the film, its story, and the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. It finishes by posing the above question only. The question is not answered first; it's answered last, in the conclusion.
The two paragraphs in the Body, which typically provide reasons for the answer, look at both sides of the argument. One paragraph focuses on Cognitive Relatively and how the student can change their thinking when focusing on different subjects. The other paragraph focuses on Cognitive Determinism and how it's difficult for students to focus on or understand subjects they aren't good at.
In the Conclusion, having looked at both sides of the question, students make a decision on which is more correct. They show why their opinion is true and why the opposite is false. The essay is concluded with a positive statement about the future. What good things will happen in the future if people understood your idea?
Here's the overall essay structure: gdrive/Arrival - Essay Structure.pdf
Because the class is taught once a week, the movie and explanation could take a month. Each paragraph also takes a month. There's also summer vacation, which is another month. Students write their paragraphs in their notebook and I check them for errors in their contents, like weak or missing explanations. Paragraphs are only finished when I've marked them with an "okay." With all paragraphs complete, students will type their paragraph in a Google Document and create an APA-style report, which follows this format.
All in all, class takes about 7 or 8 months. That seems like a long time to write a 3-4 page essay, but Japanese students have never written anything like this before. Many of them will never write something like this again because they'll focus on something else in university.
Because of all the work they put into this essay, I print them out and put them in rail files, just like an American University. I'm proud of all the work they've done, so I want them to be proud of it, too, and have something to keep and hold from their experience.
Here are some examples of student work, with the cover page removed: 1 2 3
With enough time remaining before finals, students can use their essays in a Japanese English debate style format. The class is divided into two teams based on how they're answered the question in their essay. Relativity v. Determinism.
In teams, they discuss their essays and come up with the 3 best reasons for why their opinion is correct. These 3 reasons are spoken by group members as their Opening Statement. Each team gives their opening statement, and the other team takes notes of the opening statement for the next part. (I also write them on the board and online for students to review.)
Next is the Attack. After receiving the other team's 3 best points, teams come back together and discuss why the opposing team's reasons are not true. Each best point should have a team member attacking it. After discussion, each team will give their Attack speeches, and the other teams will take notes. (I write these down, too.)
Next is the Defense, which works a lot like the Attack. After receiving the opposing team's attack, teams discuss why that attack was weak or incorrect and reinforce their best points. The Defense does not reinforce their own attacks. After discussion, once again, each team will have its members deliver the Defense speech.
In this debate format, there's a final speech called the Summary Speech. Teams would give a speech stating their best points, why the best points of the opposing team were wrong, how the opposing team didn't correctly defend their points, and how their team correctly defending their own points. It's a bit much for students to do all of this for the first time, so I do the summary for them as a way of concluding the class.
Overall, students are evaluated on their progress of writing the essay in their notebooks and meeting deadlines. The final report is harshly graded by any mistakes in print, and also being turned in on-time. By the end, everything should be perfect, so any mistakes are made through carelessness of typing of putting together their report. My class's overall grade this year was 95%, so it all worked out. Only one student got a B, which brought down the average.
Overall, I've had this film on my mind for 8 years since its release, but I think I can finally put it down after this last year of explaining it, reading about it, and writing about it again and again.